Mi Casa

Finally some photo's of my place to give you an idea of where I hibernate.

I actually cooked today, so you can imagine my apartment smelling fantastic!.... I made curried chicken with tons of garlic and red pepper. I cooked with the aromatic and rich sesame oil, throwing in some spinach, onions, mushrooms and peppers which I bought at the market. For me, cooking is a rarity, although I love to cook, a lot of the foods I love are ridiculously expensive. I typically I survive on cereal, fruit, tuna and ramen. In Korea, it is expensive to cook and when you look at my kitchen you will see that I don't have a lot of space to chop and stir.

I've actually noticed that it is just as cheap, often cheaper to eat at a restaurant than to buy ingredients and cook for yourself at home.

Class trip to Grand Park

~my attempts to take a picture where everyone is looking at the camera~



We swapped desks, books and uniforms for a day out in Seoul.
The weather was fantastic and the students were given freedom to choose their own adventure.

Fireworks on the Han

There were literally millions of people there and the subway was a rock concert mosh pit experience!!! Surprisingly, I didn't lose the 3 people I went with and of course, met new people along the way... it is humbling to have a conversation with a stranger when your noses are 3 centimeters away and you forgot to put on antiperspirant that day. The fireworks were exceptional and the "Ooooh's" and "Ahhhhh's" of the well-behaved crowd were like music.
Taking pictures of fireworks is tricky, their firey personality makes them prone to movement, they can't sit still but at least they never forget to smile.

Korean Fork Village

I thrive on the many entertaining uses of English that I come across... from the Korean McDonalds 'Hot for You' slogan to signs that advertise 'Korean Fork Village'. I have had the opportunity to spend a day at Korean Folk Village in Yongin.
A Korean wishing tree~ I wished for good health for my family.

Eun Joo & I

Taerye- Korean Wedding Ceremony

In Korea a wedding represents more than the joining of two individuals, it is the bonding of two families.
Taerye (a Korean Wedding ceremony) is often an elaborate ordeal with many bows, gestures and rituals. Steeped in Confucian values, the ceremonies included plenty of food, music and dancing.

The Korean wedding has four main principals...

The first is the physical relationship between the man and woman, that it be monogamous and fruitful.

Second, that the couple respect each other with love and endure each other in all sufferings.

Thirdly, they have a common social life which is called a household. The household of the newly wed couple is the beginning of their own background in social community. They bear children and bring them up in a comfortable environment. There are a lot of responsibilities in a marriage... especially for the woman!

Finally, the wedding follows one organization. The organization is a synthetical rule like a custom, morality or law.
The wedding values act as a principle which guides the couples behaviour through to achieve standardized goals.